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Brandon Nuttall wrote: > > Folks, > > As long as we are examining mystery fossils, how about one from east > central Kentucky. > > http://www.uky.edu/KGS/emsweb/fossil/kyfossil.htm > > The fossil occurs as a limonite crust on an iron-rich chert nodule. The > nodule was found in a creek bed about 1.5 miles southeast of Berea, Madison > County, east central Kentucky. It is most likely from the Lower > Mississippian Borden formation. However, the possibility exists that it > could come from the Devonian New Albany shale. In the latest Mississippian Imo Formation of north-central Arkansas, we get things that look like that: orthoconic nautiloids, preserved embeddded or half-embedded in siderite nodules. Some of the local species have pretty strong ribs or other ornament; they may be preserved in full 3-D, but can be flattened, often with a crack, bulge or split developing down the midline. My guess is that that's what you have -- a mold of a smushed orthoconic cephalopod. Are the Border and New Albany formations known to have cephalopods? If so, you might want to compare this problematicum with known genera from the area. On the other hand, it could be a mid-Paleozoic Ediacaran fossil, cf. Pteridinium. I can always dream. . . -- Ben Waggoner Department of Biology University of Central Arkansas Conway, AR 72035-5003 USA, sort of
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